Dirty
by nuumamonjaa
Summary: maybe heroes deserve to die. Gustave XIII Scenario


Count Kelvin of Jade was a decent peace negotiator. He wasn't too bad of a strategist, either. His battle skills paled to nothing when compared with General Nebelstern´s. And he was quite a lousy spellcaster. Luckily, the latter didn't matter. Gustave the 13th couldn't care less if his friends lacked that particular talent.

Some people wondered why they were friends at all.

Today, so did Kelvin.

Part of Kelvin´s skills at negotiation were due to the fact that he honestly wanted peace, but part was because he liked to hear himself talk.

This time, he was being especially honest, not using any diplomat tricks, but he knew it wasn't working. As he struggled to find the right words, the words that could reach Gustave, he knew it was a lost battle.

For once, he saw himself the way Gustave would see him: some guy with a ridiculous hairstyle who kept talking and talking, and never got to the point, but who had to be listened to for old times´ sake.

So Kelvin trailed off, and what could have been his most brilliant speech came to nothing.

Gustave sighed, evidently relieved of not having to pretend that he was still paying attention. Then Kelvin did something he didn't do often. He said exactly what he meant without making it sound pretty.

"You're going to kill innocent people. Please, Gustave, don't."

Gustave smiled sadly.

There were few things more exasperating than watching Gustave being patient with him. And right now, Kelvin couldn't think of any other.

As he was trying to regain his pose and speak again, to try and convince him, Gustave just patted him on a shoulder with his gloved hand.

"Kelvin, you work too much" he said, still smiling.

Kelvin said nothing, for he knew there was nothing to be said, and his face showed no emotion, but he paled as if his blood had been drained from him and clenched his fists inside his embroidered sleeves.

Gustave walked away and gave the last orders himself.

They were to march inside the Hahn Ruins and kill every man, woman, child or beast inside.

And he wasn't going to let a nuisance like Kelvin stop them.

------

On the way back, they didn't talk.

Gustave didn't talk to Kelvin because that would have been too much. He had his reasons, and he didn't have to explain himself as if he was an eight year old, especially not to Kelvin, who was just a subordinate. The snobbish jerk always forgot that.

They didn't talk at all, and Kelvin was very glad they didn't.

--------------------------

When they got back to Hahn Nova, that magical city the magic-deprived Gustave had built for himself, there was a big party. There usually was a party every time Gustave returned, a welcoming party for their beloved King, but for Kelvin it seemed as if this specific party was different from the rest, as if everybody was trying to shake off themselves the weight of a crime.

It wasn't a costume party, but for a moment he thought all those smiles were fake, he thought all of them wore masks.

Then he decided that was just him, and went to sleep.

----------------------------

As Leslie was making her way to her chambers, a hand tugged at her sleeve.

She looked over her shoulder and saw Flynn. The serious expression on his face made him look almost his age. Leslie had always wondered if there was something about anima deprivation that made people look younger.

"Count Kelvin is sick, isn't he." he said, but it was not a question, it was a statement.

"I don't know." Was Leslie's surprised reply. "He didn't look sick to me."

Flynn nodded.

"Lord Gus is worried about him." Flynn said, rather matter-of-factly.

"How would you know?" she said, feeling awfully guilty as the words left her mouth. Flynn was not brilliant, but he wasn't a complete idiot, and he could perceive the world around him.

Flynn smiled. Dumb or not, his feelings weren't hurt that easily.

"Didn't you notice? Lord Gus been all nice to him this evening, and Count Kelvin just walked away. That's not like him at all."

She couldn't help but agree.

"Check on him, will you?" he said, very seriously.

"I will." She said.

"I would be sad if Count Kelvin was sick."

"So would I."

"I know. All of us. We're friends, aren't we?"

Without waiting for an answer, Flynn left.

Leslie stopped in front of Kelvin's door and knocked. She got no response.

"Kelvin, it's me." She said.

No sound came from the other side.

"I'm coming in." She said, and opened the door, ready for anything, from a very drunken Kelvin lying on a pool of his own vomit, to a suicide note.

What she found instead was a very tidy, spotless room, and standing next to the window, the Count of Jade himself.

"Kelvin" she said.

He turned around slowly and looked at her.

She realized why Flynn thought him sick. He wasn't on one of his better days. It was a bit more obvious here than it had been on the party, for the room was so clean, so tidy, so _Kelvin_, and in this particular day, he didn't fit his own sanctuary. His hair was messy, and his eyes were bloodshot.

He was classy enough to look decadent, but the truth was he was plain disheveled.

"You look like hell." She said.

He stole a glance at his own reflection on the glass and tried to fix his hair.

"My, all those years learning protocol for nothing...you can take a girl out of the country.."

"Kelvin" she said, interrupting his sleepy sounding speech.

He gave up on his hair and faced her again, but said nothing

"Kelvin, what happened?"

He stood very stiff and folded his arms behind his back.

"We have successfully eliminated the sect known as the Anima Faith." he said, in a very composed tone. "Their main forces were stationed at the Ruins of Hahn, and the coup was..."

She grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him.

"Cut that out!"

He stared at her, startled at the unusual contact, but kept quiet. Their faces were inches from each other, and although his eyes looked swollen, there was no trace of alcohol on his breath. She had been almost certain he was drunk, but now she wondered if he had been crying.

"...what happened to you?" she said, almost in a whisper.

"Nothing." he said, pulling free of her grip. He chuckled, but it didn't sound very convincing. "Nothing, not even a scratch."

"...did something happen to Gustave?"

"No, you just saw him. He's allright."

His smile stayed on his lips, but his voice did sound a bit shaky when he went on.

"You know him, nobody can even touch him, everybody fears him, Gustave is safe."

"Then what is it?"

"Nothing, Leslie, nothing. Just go to sleep."

"What happened?"

Kelvin looked away.

"We eliminated the Anima Faith. That's what happened."

"..Kelvin, you're an atheist."

"...We killed them all.."

He bit his lip.

"and?" she asked him. She knew there had to be more.

"They were innocent."

"Gustave said the Anima Faith were behind Philippe the 2nds assassination."

Kelvin did something Leslie did not expect. He bursted out laughing.

She looked at him wide eyed.

"Leslie, my dear Leslie." He said, as if he were explaining this really good joke " Gustave arranged the killing himself."

Leslie shook her head.

"Of course not. Philippe the 2nd was his nephew."

Kelvin smiled and said nothing.

Leslie braced herself.

"You're not going to make me believe that, Kelvin."

Kelvin rolled his eyes.

"´Cause everybody knows Gustave would never hurt anyone…"

"I'm not saying he's an angel, just that he did not arrange the killing of his own nephew" said Leslie, growing angrier every second.

"Of course he didn't. It's just my sick, perverted mind."

Now, Leslie hadn't been on the ceremony, but still, the mere thought of it, it was ridiculous.

"It's not funny!"

Kelvin turned around, facing the window again.

"You're right. It is not funny at all. Leave, Leslie."

"Take back what you said!" she snapped.

"_Leave_, Leslie."

She stormed away from the room and slammed the door behind herself, almost wishing she had found that suicide note.

Kelvin leaned his feverish cheek against the cold glass, and felt dirty. Leslie would never believe Gustave capable of something like arranging the murder of a seven year old boy. Her trust –her _love_- was pure. _Her_ Gustave was a bit scary, but deep down, a kind, loving person. You just had to know where to look.

Kelvin bit his lip to hold back a smile.

Kelvin did not believe Gustave capable of arranging Philippe's death either.

That is, until the day Gustave gave the orders.

Kelvin felt cold inside, for _his_ Gustave was very capable of killing a seven year old kid just because he stood on the way for his claim for the throne. He felt dirty because he _knew, _and thus had not Leslie's excuse.

_Gustave is the kind of man that kills his way to the top and I'm the kind of man who can be his friend_. He thought.

He looked at his reflection on the glass and was almost pleased to find it was not beautiful, elegant, or trust inspiring. He was almost satisfied to see decay that years ago would have haunted him. Oh yes, he was not a pretty sight. He shouldn't be.

Looking through his reflection, staring at the night sky, he pulled a little sharp something out of his embroidered cuff.

It was a steel dagger. Kelvin always carried it with him. Gustave had given it to him, as some kind of joke, since it was impossible to cast Anima Spells with it. Fighters only used wood or stone daggers. But Kelvin kept it anyway.

He had been fumbling at its cold hilt the morning of the battle, when he knew his speech would get him nowhere, when he knew Gustave wouldn't listen to him ever again. If he had ever listened before.

He had paled, that morning, at the sudden thought of killing him. Of burying a knife into Gustaves hollow chest. He saw himself doing it, heard the words he would say.

"_Cold and magickless, Gus. Just like you_."

But he didn't do it.

And it wasn't fear what stopped his hand.

He knew he would have been killed on the spot. He knew, and he didn't care. His death could save lots of lives. It was a fair deal. Even the shame on the name of Jade, he could bear. Charles, (or more likely little Philippe the 3rd ) would make up for him.

That didn't stop his hand.

He didn't _want_ to kill Gustave. He didn't even _try_ because he loved that bastard. Just like Leslie and Flynn loved him. Except they loved a fairy tale prince, while Kelvin loved a monster.

And he cared about that monster so much that for a moment he hesitated whether he should just let him kill them.

Kelvin just let a couple _hundred _people die because he didn't want Gustave the Steel to die for them. He didn't want to sacrifice Gustave the Steel to _them_. What's a hundred, a thousand, a million people? There's only one Gustave.

But it hurt so much to know that he could have stopped him.

It hurt so much.

Kelvin looked down and noticed he had clutched the little dagger on his hand til he started to bleed. Unlike stone, or wooden daggers, steel could cut. Kelvin always forgot that.

He wiped his hand with a handkerchief and returned his eyes to the reflection.

His hands were bloodstained, his eyes were swollen. His hair was a mess.

"...the perfect aristocrat.."

He started laughing so hard he feared he would wake someone, but honestly, it was too much, and he couldn't stop it.

-----------------

Much to Kelvin's surprise, he was not relieved from his post. Gustave knew just how very careful Kelvin was about his own image, and he did not want to hurt the Count of Jade. But Kelvin had proven himself to be soft. He was a decent strategist, and an even better peace negotiator, but he didn't have what it takes to shape history.

He didn't want to get his hands dirty.

So Gustave started relying on Ventabre a bit more. Ventabre –like Flynn- would do just about anything Gustave said without asking why. And for the real important stuff that shouldn't be questioned, there was Johan.

Johan, his latest found ally, his so-called bodyguard, came from the Scorpion Clan. Whatever Gustave wanted him to do, Johan had already done it, and worse. It was very fun to work with Johan.

Kelvin would lose power, but save face. Gustave was sure that that's what he valued the most, and he really, really didn't mean him harm. They were, after all, friends. Kind of.

-------------

There had been a secret meeting, probably, but he sure as hell hadn't been invited.

All Kelvin had was the official schedule. Gustave, Johan, Flynn and Ventabre would leave Hahn Nova. They were set out for the Southern Fort, on inspection. Routine inspection.

Gustave the Steel was going to make an inspection in person. Riiiiiiight.

It was very degrading to know that everybody thought his brain had melted.

Gustave was obviously preparing for another war. Since nothing much was happening. Gustave was probably going to pull another one of the tricks a la Conquest of Wide. Because he would never have enough.

Gustaves Art of War: When you don't have a reason for war, you make one up.

Kelvin would bet his right eye that Gustave was going to suffer an assault, which, most fortunately would fail, or perhaps would cost the life of one of his beloved minions. (He guessed Dirk. He wasn't as blind as the rest), but nevertheless would become a very good reason for Gustave to set on a holy war. Again.

"It is our duty to get rid of Gustave´s dark side" had been Nebelstern´s words, back when Kelvin wasn't the Count of Jade, just a rich boy who liked to hang out with older, cooler, violent, but oh so dreamy Gustave. 

Kelvin would gladly sell his Anima to have Flynn's childish brain, or even Leslie's pure heart. Oh, to love and to believe in the loved one.

Or maybe they knew, they knew all along, and they did not care.

Denial was sweet, ignorance was bliss. Truth was dirty. But truth was his.

And one of the cool things about being a strategist is that you get to work at home.

-----------

It was a cold starry night when Dirk came back to Hahn Nova with the news.

Gustave had been surprisingly attacked by a mysterious, unidentified army, while a treacherous village elder turned Dirk lost and kept him from being the reinforcement that could have saved Gustave.

For Gustave 13th , Gustave the Steel, was dead.

Upon hearing the news, Kelvin stood all composed and dignified –_the perfect aristocrat_-, and did everything he had to do, and everyone admired his strength, for he had been Gustaves best friend and had to be suffering even more than they suffered.

Nevertheless, he still found the strength to battle some rebel lords and made them all sign the Hahn Nova Peace Treaty.

But he never really got over Gustave 13th s death, for Gustave had been his friend, and it had been so painful to lose him. Even if Kelvin had ordered his death himself.

-The End-


End file.
